The Ghost of Tamyron Meadows

It was long before the endless miles of asphalt had carved through the landscape of Crows Crossing Road that the people of the small town of Cambridge had first learned of the woodland lights at Tamyron Meadows. It had been a long held belief that the lights were created by the ghost of Elias Jonah, A man long since removed from the world of the living many years ago. But it had not been so long that his name would not live on, carried on for generations to come, in the whispered words of legend. It was the fall of 1710 when the then fledgling township of Cambridge first learned of the existence of the strange little man that they would come to know as Elias Jonah. He lived in a small cottage in the woods near the Tamyron Meadows, where he could be seen on most days riding his white horse to the pond near the middle of the meadow to fetch fresh water.

While some only viewed him as a harmless eccentric- there were others though, who held a different opinion of Elias. Those Christian souls, who looked upon him with great disdain, such a man was the Reverend Charles Abbey. The good reverend saw him as a godless man who huddled around candles late at night worshiping the devil, conjuring whatever demons he could to do his twisted bidding. And the Reverend had done all that he could to convince his loyal followers of this. But in all reality- quite the opposite was once true of Elias. For Elias Jonah was once a holy man. And then on one misty fall morning, fate would deal him a crushing blow.

A young Cambridge boy and girl had ventured into Elias’s garden near his cottage to fetch themselves a ripe pumpkin. Naturally Elias- hearing a noise came to investigate. But when they saw Elias Jonah walking towards them through the morning mist, they didn’t see a harmless little man, they saw the devil himself. And once so frightened beyond all sanity and reason, they raced back to Cambridge to alert the reverend and the great Christian township. Word spread like wildfire, the good reverend made with absolute certainty- that everyone knew. the devil himself was in the woods near Tamyron Meadows, and he had to be driven out at any cost. And so with torches lit- off they went to Tamyron to find this unearthly devil and drive him from their midst forever.

Elias as it turns out was riding in the woods when they arrived, there was no trial, there was no sentencing, there was only angry, concerned -well intentioned citizens bearing torches. All being blindly led by the Reverend Charles Abbey. He raised both hands in the air and made a declaration.
“DEVIL! We cast you out of this place.. Go back- Back I say! To the depths of hell from wince you came!”
No one recalls who exactly threw the first torch into the cottage of Elias Jonah. Only that it was immediately consumed by flames. Behind them- hearing the commotion, Elias appeared from the woods, curious as to why his home was being burnt to the ground he cried out in great confusion.
“What is the meaning of this outrage?” He yelled


They all turned to face him when the Reverend Charles Abbey raised his hands and shouted at the appearance of Elias Jonah. Slowly the crowd moved towards him.
“Devil! We cast you out of this place!” Abbey yelled.
“Fool, I am no more of a devil than any of you that would dare burn my home to ashes.” Elias answered defiantly.
“Devil leave us now!” Abbey yelled back.
The crowd itself grew more outraged, blindly following The Reverend Charles Abbey’s lead, they pushed forward towards Elias, his horse instinctively moved backwards toward the trees. That was when the Reverend would deal the final blow. He took his torch and threw it on Elias Jonah igniting his night coat immediately. Within seconds others would follow suit and it wasn’t long before Elias Jonah sat atop his horse completely engulfed in flames.

The horse not realizing what had happened, being a frightened beast -ran through the woods with its flaming rider. The small crowd of torch bearing good Samaritans stood idly by and watched as Elias Jonah burnt to death atop his own horse. The Good reverend turned to his flock and raised both hands.
“We have done Gods work here, my friends. Let us return home now and cleanse our selves in the power of prayer.”
Return home they did, and they prayed and prayed, and time had passed, one week, one month and finally one year. And then one night in the fall of 1711, Elias Jonah would return for his revenge. He appeared at the edge of town, in a small clearing, two people saw him and immediately alerted The Reverend Charles Abbey, who was no where to be found.

The ghostly apparition proclaimed to the township that it was indeed the ghost of Elias Jonah, and it was there for only one person, it wanted the Reverend Charles Abbey, and the longer it took to get him the more houses the following night it would return to burn. And true to its word, the following night the ghost of Elias Jonah returned and burnt one random house to the ground. And the next night it burnt two, and it would return until half of the village of Cambridge was ablaze. Until on the final night The good Reverend Charles Abbey appeared at the end of the street awaiting his fate. And when the flaming ghost of Elias Jonah appeared he prayed for mercy but received none. And the flaming horse ran towards him, and the ghost itself swooped down and carried the Reverend Charles Abbey off into the dark cold night never to be seen again.

Though the original Cambridge burnt down- the town was eventually resettled four miles away. It slowly grew, and would blossom into the community that it has become today. But there is still a part of old Cambridge that will not leave this world quietly. Memories still linger for some, two hundred and ninety nine years later, there are still those who hold their breath whenever near old Cambridge. There is something restless there, still roaming the woods near Tamyron Meadows. On most nights you can see it clearly, on others not at all. But when the moon is high in the sky, and that cold murky mist covers the ground, you don’t have to look hard to see the faint flickering light that moves silently through the woods around old Cambridge. There rides Elias Jonah, the oldest resident, here on Crows Crossing Road.

~Scratch.. A.B.T. Copyright © 2010~